House Survey & Valuation

F

Freddie

Registered User
Messages
186
An offer I have on a house in south Dublin has just been accepted. So I've been checking the cost of getting a survey done.
I've been quoted €400 + VAT (so €484) for the survey and this will also include a valuation for mortgage purposes for the bank.

How does this seem just in terms of price. The company that quoted this have been given good reviews on here and on borads.ie
 
Last edited:
Sounds alright price to me. Shop around and you won't find much cheaper for decent survey/valuation.
 
Thanks for all the replies. The surveyor just sent through the terms & conditions to me.

6.1 Building Survey Report (Structural Survey)
The scope and limitations of an inspection carried out by us are as follows:
1. The survey will take the form of an appraisal of the main parts of the structure including roofs, walls,
floors and finishes both internal & external.

2. Where parts of the structure are inaccessible or unexposed, no opinion can be given, but attention will be
drawn within the report where such situations have arisen. No floorboards or timber cladding/lining to
walls or ceilings will be lifted and therefore, it must be appreciated that defects may be present but
cannot be conclusively identified.

3. Minor details that do not materially affect the value of the property may not be commented on.
4. The Surveyor will examine and make general comments on the condition of the electrical, plumbing,
heating or drainage installations. No tests will be carried out on the services. Should further clarification
be required in this regard, it is recommended that a qualified electrician or plumber be employed to carry
out these tests.

5. We will not make any enquiries with local Planning Authorities or other statutory agencies.

6. A Building Energy Rating (BER) Certificate is not included.

7. Budget costs where indicated are approximate estimates only and a detailed contract estimate is
recommended.

From point 2 - I'm reading we won't look at anything major
From point 3 - I'm reading we won't look at/count anything minor

I'm not really sure what I get for €450 besides a qualified guy taking a cursory walk through and around the house I'm going to buy.

If I really want to find out if I have any problems(potential or otherwise) do I need to get a builder/electrician/plumber in to have a "proper" look.
With this particular house I'm going to have to basically gut it inside anyway. Just wondering is there any real point getting such a limited survey done.
I know its only a tiny amount of money compared to the house cost and people will say for piece of mind etc, but what piece of mind would I get as I still won't really know if there are hidden problems
 
(1) Building Energy Rating Certificate must be provided by the current owner of the property by law

(2)No mention of a mortgage valuation. Is this included. Confirm that the engineer is on the valuation panel for your bank as most banks have panels and you have to use one of these. Normal cost is €127 plus VAT

(3) generally surveys dont include a great deal of detail as the property is owned by a third party and distructive testing cannot be carried out therefore it is purly visable. A well qualfieid person should pick up on any issues which are visable in the property
 
I know its only a tiny amount of money compared to the house cost and people will say for piece of mind etc, but what piece of mind would I get as I still won't really know if there are hidden problems
Click to expand...

Are you not obliged to get the survey and structural report for your lending institute?

Personally I believe that if you are buying a fairly new standard house then the structural engineer will be unlikely to come up with anything you
won't see yourself. They don't do any destructive testing so it's hard to
see what they can come up with.

What gets me is the cost. As i understand it they do the job in less than an hour and 500 euros is a lot for an hours work. That's more than Pat Kenny gets.

Regardless I would be reluctant to depend on it as a substitute for having a builder/electrician/plumber friend give it an inspection as well.
 
TurboTim said:
Are you not obliged to get the survey and structural report for your lending institute?

Personally I believe that if you are buying a fairly new standard house then the structural engineer will be unlikely to come up with anything you
won't see yourself. They don't do any destructive testing so it's hard to
see what they can come up with.

What gets me is the cost. As i understand it they do the job in less than an hour and 500 euros is a lot for an hours work. That's more than Pat Kenny gets.

Regardless I would be reluctant to depend on it as a substitute for having a builder/electrician/plumber friend give it an inspection as well.
Click to expand...

Speaking from the experience of having a few surveys done during house purchases and having my own house surveyed when being sold, I can tell you that it takes a lot longer than an hour, and you have to add on the time to write the report and talk to you about it on the phone.

Also, your builder / plumber mate is not a professional engineer and it not qualified or skilled to be able to tell if there is a a potential structural problem with the house you are planning on spending a LOT of money on.
 
Any professional engineer (like my brother example) will tell you that they can really only identify visible defects that most people who are clued in could equally see.
Without doing destructive testing, analysis os samples etc., they have no inherent skills that a good builder would not have. A builder will, however, have the practical experience to give you practical advise that might be of actual value to you.


Employing a "professional" "qualified" person who you cannot hold to account for factors they omit provides only false comfort to people.

I have read some of these comprehensive reports of 10-12 pages and they are essentially marketing documents - padded to make people belive they are getting value for money. Disertations about Radon,Electromagetic Forces, Microwaves are followed by statements that they did no tests for them. Photos of the property.
Disertations about the locality, availability of schools bus services etc., A decent builder would not feed you with this type of useless padding.

Every person who bought a property in the north of country Dublin now plagued by the Pyrite scandal all would have employed structural engineers.
 
400Euro plus VAT (E493) for structural survey of a 50 sq meter cottage (bungalow) in Waterford, house is from 1900's or there abouts but in good condition, re-wired, re-roofed etc. To me this is a crazy amount for half an hour in the house and an hour on the computer. Cowboys Ted! Cowboys
 
Speaking from experience this price seems about right. But be wary of what you expect to get from the survey. As already mentioned some reports are just a marketing exercise.
Before agreeing to the survey check:
1. The age of the house - older houses will throw up surprises that can easily be cosmetically covered by previous owners.
2. Electrics - old house = old wiring. You may need to employ a separate Elec. engineer to check this. Most surveys won't cover this. They may just comment on the current state of the electrics.
3. Any previous history of subsidence / flooding - if there was get report from the company that fixed the subsidence.
4. Plumbing & heating - your engineer will just turn on a tap or two and may comment that there is sufficient water pressure or comment on the current state of the rads etc. He won;t be able to ( or won't check) the actual heating. Again, employing a plumber for this may be required.
5. Windows and insulation - again hard to gauge the effectiveness of these in a survey.

Overall, this is just an exercise required by lenders and as such no one survey is going to cover everything. I'll know better for next time round. We were bitten a bit by a survey a few years back that has just resulted in a complete house re-wire 3 months ago. The report at the time didn't mention anything about the state of the wiring as the surveyor would not access the attic due to no lighting in place. (???)
We thought nothing of it until a few months ago when we needed the rewire.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top